World (Dis)Order and Civilisations in Dialogue: European (in)security in an age of civilizational states

16:15 – 17:30
October 12

The bipolar and unipolar orders have gone, but core elements of the Cold War mentality and US domination are still influential. The transition to a more multipolar world has not strengthened international cooperation or multilateralism. Instead, everywhere there is a backlash against liberal globalisation, and supranational institutions appear to lack legitimacy. A global ‘culture war’ pits the liberal establishment of the West against the illiberal powers of Russia and China. Cultural exceptionalism is once again challenging, and arguably replacing, liberalism’s claim to universal validity. The powers that are re-defining themselves as state civilisations are on the rise in an era when the liberal world order is unravelling.

Among the questions to be addressed:

  • What are some of the main causes and consequences of global (dis)order?
  • What is driving the backlash against liberal globalisation?
  • Is the civilizational state model on the rise, and does it represent a threat or an opportunity?
  • How do identity formation and dialogue-based politics change contemporary geopolitics?
  • Are we seeing the rise of new orders and is the character of cooperation and diplomacy changing?